Posted on 09/10/2004 10:41:09 PM PDT by Crazieman
Whenever the topic has turned to the Selectric Composer, it has been dismissed out-of-hand as being far too expensive an item to find in an office on an Air National Guard base: The machine sold for anywhere from $3,600 to $4,400, and fonts were extra and not cheap. Furthermore, the Composer was widely agreed to be far too complicated and slow a machine to use for typing up memoranda, especially ones that were destined to go into a file and not even be distributed.
But the nagging question remained: Could an IBM Selectric Composer have been used to produce these documents?
I found my answer the same place everybody finds everything these days: Google. Typing "IBM Selectric Composer" into that search site took me to the aptly named ibmcomposer.org, which describes itself as "the only site on the Internet completely dedicated to the IBM 'Selectric' Composer line of typesetting machines." The site, which is run by Gerry Kaplan, includes information, scanned user manuals, and photographs of the only working IBM Selectric Composer I've been able to find. And, fortunately for me, it also includes an e-mail address.
When I first heard back from Gerry, I felt a little bad for having bothered him. He'd been fielding calls and letters all day, he told me, including an inquiry from CNN. But he was a trouper, willing enthusiastic even to help out.
I asked Gerry, in a fit of hubris, if he wouldn't mind trying to reproduce a sample from one of the CBS memos on his Selectric Composer. Just over an hour later, he emailed me back a sample, typed up on his Composer using the 11-point Press Roman type ball and scanned into his computer.
(Excerpt) Read more at shapeofdays.typepad.com ...
Thanx for providing proof.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1212408/posts?page=445#445
Everyone stopped talking about him, cept occasionally in passing. nyuk nyuk nyuk
Bush/Cheney have rolled out with some wonderful new ads, all positive, no comparisons or even mention of what's his name. Wonder if they're national or if they're just in locations like mine (battleground).
Neat!~ and too much more.
I love it...Great work!
I would say the most dangerous hoax aver perpetrated in the U.S.
What we have here is a criminal conspiracy by CBS to use forged military documents to influence a federal election. Martha Stewart, anyone?
Whats scarier is that they'll probably get away with it. I see Ivan swamping all coverage and it will go the way of berger-gate. :(
It would be a good idea to bookmark this page and click the Make Available Offline box.
But Bush will be dismissing all future questions about the Guard.
True. They can't drag it up again. Effective innoculation against further "bombshell documents"
Looks real to me ;~)
EXCELLENT!
It will be noted that the y in May on the forged document nestles it's tail under the a in May. The Composer sample does not. The y stands off. That nestled y tail is the result of kerning and was not possible by strictly mechanical means.
We must make the Dems, CBS, and all their other minions eat this forgery! They tried to defraud the American public and now they have the utter gall to defend their attempt at fraud. I am really tired of these people.
---What we have here is a criminal conspiracy by CBS to use forged military documents to influence a federal election. Martha Stewart, anyone?---
A criminal conspiracy involving the DNC, CBS, and the Kerry campaign, and perhaps others.
bttt
This makes Watergate look trivial by comparison.
I am so tired of seeing these people round the corners off every fact!
---This makes Watergate look trivial by comparison.---
It really does, doesn't it? The lies coming off these people! It's like the Devil himself is in their midst.
ping
Exactly. And for what purpose?
It's a hoax.
Maybe to show young Bill Gates the exact default settings he should use if he were to ever happen to form a soft ware company that made a word processor.
You never know. I mean there is a finite possibility that all the molecules in the ink of original documents started missing each other when they were bouncing around, affecting the font...it could happen...
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